Validity of the 'Ten Questions' for screening serious childhood disability: results from urban Bangladesh

A survey of 2576 children aged two to nine years was carried out in Dhaka, Bangladesh, as part of a collaborative study to test the validity of a questionnaire (the Ten Questions) for screening severe childhood disabilities in community settings. Approximately 7% of the children were positive on the screen and this rate was slightly higher in boys than girls. The sensitivity, specificity and negative predictive value of the Ten Questions were perfect or nearly perfect for severe and moderate (serious) disabilities. The positive predictive value was only 22% for serious disabilities, but 70% of children classified as false positives were found to have mild disabilities or other conditions (such as ear infections) for which early detection and treatment could be beneficial. No major age or gender differences in the validity of the questionnaire were apparent, but this finding needs additional study and confirmation with studies based on larger samples. In general, the results indicate that the Ten Questions is a valid tool for screening serious disabilities in children and can potentially improve the efficiency of health services by reducing the number of children requiring attention from professionals. Future studies using the Ten Questions should foster greater attention to the dimensions of childhood disability as a public health problem in the less developed world.     

An appraisal of the appropriateness of the indications for hysterectomy.

Over a five-year period, 197 hysterectomies were performed at King Khalid University Hospital (KKUH). Indications for the procedures vary from menstrual disorders and symptomatic fibroids to ovarian malignancy. The most common indication was found to be menorrhagia. Among multiple pre-operative indications, only the first listed major indication for hysterectomy was chosen. There were 145 abdominal and 52 vaginal hysterectomies and all were elective gynaecological procedures, majority of which were performed on women in their fourth and fifth decades of life. Verification of pre-operative diagnosis, when correlated with pathological findings, showed that some of the indications for the procedure deserve a more critical reappraisal. Since hysterectomy carries substantial economic and medical consequences, indications for undertaking the procedure deserve more careful scrutiny given the surgical and nonsurgical options that are currently available. There may be a need, therefore, to assess the appropriateness or otherwise of the use of hysterectomy in many of the patients in future.     

In vitro activity of caspofungin compared to amphotericin B, fluconazole, and itraconazole against Candida strains isolated in a Turkish University Hospital.

We investigated the in vitro activity of caspofungin compared to amphotericin B, fluconazole, and itraconazole against clinical strains of Candida spp. (n =239). Antifungal susceptibility tests were done in accordance with NCCLS M27-A2 microdilution method and the results were read after 24 and 48 h. In general, 24 h MIC readings were similar to those at 48 h for most isolates and all antifungal agents. Caspofungin was active against all species tested. Caspofungin MICs of Candida parapsilosis were slightly higher than those for other Candida spp. Caspofungin MIC (microg/ml) ranges at 24 h for C. albicans, C. glabrata, C tropicalis, C. parapsilosis, C kefyr, C krusei, C. lusitaniae, C. norvegensis, C. guilliermondii and C. lipolytica were 0.06-2, 0.125-2, 0.125-2, 1-4, 0.125-2, 1-2, 0.5-2, 0.5-1, 0.5-2 and 1-2, respectively. Eagle (paradoxical) effect was observed in 31 and 8% of the isolates at highest concentrations of caspofungin and itraconazole, respectively. The activity of caspofungin against fluconazole- and/or itraconazole-resistant isolates was similar to that detected for the susceptible ones. We conclude that caspofungin appears as a promising antifungal agent with enhanced activity against Candida, including the azole-resistant strains.     

Genotypic analysis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Bangladesh and prevalence of the Beijing strain

Genotypic analysis was performed on 48 Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex strains collected from a hospital in Dhaka city. Deletion analysis showed that the isolates were all M. tuberculosis; 13 of them were found to be of the "ancestral" type, while 35 were of the "modern" type, indicating that both endemic (ancestral type) and epidemic (modern type) strains cause tuberculosis in Bangladesh. Genotyping based on the spoligotype and variable-number tandem repeats (VNTR) of mycobacterial interspersed repetitive units (MIRU) was also done. A total of 34 strains (71%) were grouped by spoligotyping into nine different clusters; the largest comprised 15 isolates of the Beijing genotype, whereas the remaining eight clusters consisted of two to five isolates. MIRU-VNTR typing detected 32 different patterns among 44 tested strains, and the 15 Beijing strains were further discriminated by MIRU-VNTR typing (7 distinct patterns for the 15 isolates). These results indicate that MIRU-VNTR typing, along with spoligotyping and deletion analysis, can be used effectively for molecular epidemiological studies to determine ongoing transmission clusters; to our knowledge, this is the first report about the type of strains prevailing in Bangladesh.     

Widal test in diagnosis of typhoid fever in Turkey

We studied the value of the Widal tube agglutination test for the diagnosis of typhoid fever. The subjects were all adults >18 years of age and were divided into four groups: (i) 317 healthy blood donor controls, (ii) 31 bacteriologically confirmed patients with Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi, (iii) 21 patients with a clinical diagnosis of typhoid fever, and (iv) 41 febrile nontyphoid patients. Blood donor controls were screened with a slide agglutination test for the Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi O and H antigens, and positives were then tested with the Widal test. Acute- and convalescent-phase sera from patients in groups 2, 3, and 4 were obtained 7 to 10 days apart and tested by the Widal test. Using a cutoff of >or = 1/200 for the O antigen test performed on acute-phase serum gave a sensitivity of 52% and a specificity of 88% with a positive predictive value (PPV) of 76% and a negative predictive value (NPV) of 71%. This increased to 90% sensitivity and specificity with a PPV of 88% and an NPV of 93% when the convalescent-phase serum was tested. We concluded that O and H agglutinin titers of > or = 1/200 are of diagnostic significance. The Widal test is easy, inexpensive, and relatively noninvasive. It can be of diagnostic value when blood cultures are not available or practical. The results must be interpreted cautiously because of the low sensitivity of the test. The Widal test done on convalescent-phase serum gave more-reliable results with higher specificity and sensitivity.     

Genotoxic evaluation of welders occupationally exposed to chromium and nickel using the Comet and micronucleus assays

Chromium (Cr) and nickel (Ni) are widely used industrial chemicals. Welders in India are inclined to possible occupational Cr and Ni exposure. The carcinogenic potential of metals is a major issue in defining human health risk from exposure. Hence, in the present investigation, 102 welders and an equal number of control subjects were monitored for DNA damage in blood leucocytes utilizing the Comet assay. The two groups had similar mean ages and smoking prevalences. A few subjects were randomly selected for estimation of Cr and Ni content in whole blood by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The Comet assay was carried out to quantify basal DNA damage. The mean comet tail length was used to measure DNA damage. Welders had higher Cr and Ni content when compared with controls (Cr, 151.65 versus 17.86 micro g/l; Ni 132.39 versus 16.91 micro g/l; P < 0.001). The results indicated that the welders had a larger mean comet tail length than that of the controls (mean +/- SD, 23.05 +/- 3.86 versus 8.94 +/- 3.16; P < 0.001). In addition, the micronucleus test on buccal epithelial cells was carried out in a few randomly selected subjects. Welders showed a significant increase in micronucleated cells compared with controls (1.30 versus 0.32; P < 0.001). Analysis of variance revealed that occupational exposure (P < 0.05) had a significant effect on DNA mean tail length, whereas smoking and age had no significant effect on DNA damage. The current study suggested that chronic occupational exposure to Cr and Ni during welding could lead to increased levels of DNA damage.